Several of the Art City contributors got a preview of the "Current Tendencies III" exhibit at the Haggerty Museum of Art on Friday. It was a chance for us glimpse this important survey of some of the more intriguing artists working in our region today and to begin to consider the work in the show.

For the first time, we've asked the contributors to file short audio pieces with a few early thoughts on perhaps a single artist or work in the exhibit. | Aug. 21, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

According to a memo sent to Journal Broadcast Group employees, WTMJ-AM announced it will "decline to renew" its agreement with Learfield Sports, radio rights holder for Wisconsin Badgers football.

Starting in 2014, "Learfield will presumably move to a new market affiliate," wrote Steve Wexler, vice president of radio and TV operations for Journal Broadcast Group, whose owners Journal Communications own the Journal Sentinel. The memo is below. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(152)

You could boil the legacy of Stax Records down to a single recording: "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the M.G.'s. Homegrown soul music, funky enough for dancing yet rich enough for repeated headphone listening.

Played by two black men and two white men in complete simpatico, at a time when they could have not eaten lunch together in many places. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Article(1)

I walked away from the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship exhibition wonderfully taken in by the seven artists in the show, winners of the most prestigious award for regional artists, and yet I found the show itself muddled and underwhelming.

Just before intermission in Bruce Murphy's "The Old Garde" — the story of a struggling theater company that's now on stage at the Boulevard Theatre, under Mark Bucher's direction — the company's actors are warming up backstage for a performance of "Whale Song," the latest in a series of box-office disasters.

In the best written and staged moment in this lackluster play, Murphy gives voice to the actors' internal thoughts, and it's telling that most of them are focused on offstage dramas playing out in their lives rather than their show. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Article(1)

The Milwaukee Public Library Foundation's annual Ben Franklin Awards Celebration was a bestseller this year. Or maybe a better description might be that it was a home run, as the event honored Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and his wife, Debbie. The fete, held at the public library on Oct. 24, drew a heavy contingent of Brewer owners and friends that included longtime Brewer announcer and local icon Bob Uecker who was there with his wife, Judy.

The Lubar family, partial owners of the team, were there in force including Shel and Marianne Lubar, their son and daughter-in-law David and Madeleine and daughter Joan Lubar. Cecelia Gore, who heads the Brewers' foundation, was there with her husband, Randy Bryant. So was Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Dan and Janne Keegan, Samantha Ernest, Marti and Andy Wronski, Ted Bobrow, Bob and Joan Enters,Katie Gingrass, Jim Meyer, Meredith Malone, Andrew and Tai Pauls, Gina Peter, Fran and Judith Croak, Nancy Hernandez, Barbara Stein,Greg and Rhonda Oberland, Bruce and Peppy O'Neill, Ryan Otto and local historian John Gurda. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Article

Since the release of her debut single, "Merry Go Round" last year, Kacey Musgraves has been a constant source of refreshing country music surprises. Her album, "Same Trailer, Different Park," was the first in a string of strong female releases this year that have reignited the classic sounds of Nashville in fresh new ways that embrace the music's traditions.

Now, Musgraves has done it again with her recent appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, where she tapped band mate, guitarist and a talented vocalist in his own right, Misa Arriaga for a duet of "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - a song with its origins in the 1920s that was made most famous, of course, by Elvis Presley. At the Opry, Musgraves and Arriaga harmonized tenderly and beautifully, while the steel guitar dripped with emotion behind them. It was a stunning moment on the WSM-AM radio show that you can now watch online below. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

A restaurant called Amilinda that is targeted to open in spring will introduce itself with a series of pop-up dinners.

Chef Gregory Léon, who moved to Milwaukee last year from San Francisco, said he will open Amilinda with partner Orry DeYoung, serving seasonal food influenced by Spain, Portugal and the American South. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

SURG is moving ahead with plans to open Hom Woodfired Grill at Bayshore Town Center in Glendale sometime in early 2014.

Hom (with a long-vowel mark over the o, pronounced home) is also the name of the restaurant that replaced SURG’s 8-Twelve MVP Bar & Grill in Brookfield. It was rebranded after SURG ended its business relationship with suspended Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun. | Nov. 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post